BBC Savile colleague reportedly arrested

Radio and TV presenter Dave Lee Travis was reportedly arrested on Thursday as part of the British police investigation set up in the wake of allegations against his BBC colleague Jimmy Savile.

Police said a man in his 60s was being held on suspicion of sexual offences, although they did not officially name him.

But British media widely reported that Travis, 67, was being questioned by detectives.

Travis, nicknamed the Hairy Cornflake, worked with Savile at BBC Radio 1 during the 1970s and 1980s and was one of the most recognisable faces in British broadcasting.

Last year Myanmar's (Burma) pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said his World Service music request show had helped her to get through more than two decades under house arrest.

Travis met Suu Kyi when she visited BBC studios during a visit to Britain in June.

There is no suggestion that any accusations of pedophilia have been made against him, although two women have alleged in recent weeks that he groped them in the 1970s. He strongly denied the allegations when they were made.

Savile, one of the BBC's biggest stars for more than two decades, is believed to have preyed on under-age girls, sometimes on BBC premises.

Meanwhile, the BBC announced on Thursday it would pay former politician Alistair McAlpine STG185,000 ($A284,418) in damages for falsely implicating him in child sex abuse allegations.

A statement issued by the BBC late on Thursday said: "The BBC has agreed terms with Lord McAlpine to settle his claim of libel against the Corporation. The settlement is comprehensive and reflects the gravity of the allegations that were wrongly made."

McAlpine, Conservative party treasurer under Margaret Thatcher, responded: "I am delighted to have reached a quick and early settlement with the BBC. I have been conscious that any settlement will be paid by the licence fee-payers, and have taken that into account in reaching agreement with the BBC.

"We will now be continuing to seek settlements from other organisations that have published defamatory remarks and individuals who have used Twitter to defame me."

The broadcaster has already apologised for linking McAlpine with abuse at a children's home in Wrexham in Wales in the 1970s.

The report broadcast by the BBC's flagship current affairs show Newsnight did not name him but he was quickly identified on social networking sites.

The false allegations, coming as the BBC was under intense scrutiny over its decision to spike a report about child abuse claims surrounding Savile, plunged the world's largest broadcaster into one of the worst crises in its history.

BBC director-general George Entwistle has resigned over the report, while two other top executives have also stood aside.

Police on Thursday said the number of victims in the Savile investigation has risen to 450 from the figure of 300 it gave last month.

Although the vast majority of allegations are against the eccentric presenter, who died last year at the age of 84, the Scotland Yard probe has widened to include other figures in the entertainment industry.

Former glam rock star and convicted pedophile Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr and a 73-year-old man have been arrested and bailed in connection with the investigation.

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